Pathfinder is an often overlooked Legend, mainly because the majority of people sleep on his tactical and ultimate abilities. Why shoot zip lines when you can rain down missiles, you know? However, his grapple is actually very effective in the right hands and can be utilized offensively. Pathfinder can grapple enemy players, which of course swiftly closes the gap between their respective locations. Follow this up with a quick shotgun blast, and you can see how useful it can

It's not a bad weapon after you've obtained a few upgrades for it, but getting there is going to be a slog. The locked burst fire really drags it down in terms of DPS, limiting its ability to maintain pressure and remain useful inside of mid-range. There are definitely better ways to make use of the heavy ammo it consu

On top of being initially perceived as a somewhat desperate attempt on EA's part to chase market trends, Apex Legends launched on February 4 with almost no fanfare leading up to its surprise arrival. Nevertheless, Apex Legends has ballooned into nothing short of an enigmatic triumph for EA and developer Respawn, shattering player count milestones at speeds that would have made Fortnite wince. On its surface, it would seem that Apex Legends does little to nothing that this week's major releases don't, lacking the graphical spectacle of Metro Exodus and Anthem , the open-ended sandboxes of Far Cry New Dawn and Crackdown 3 , and the pop culture mélange that Jump Force provides. But it stands out from the throng, largely thanks to its simple-yet-enthralling gameplay loop, well-refined Titanfall gunplay and movement systems, and refreshing additions and improvements to the battle royale form

The Hemlok fulfills the role of the standard, three round burst firing assault rifle that you're probably familiar with from every other FPS game. While it manages to succeed in playing the role, it doesn't tend to do it overly well at any po

Similarly, Far Cry New Dawn feels like an over-familiar and over-priced expansion to last year's Far Cry 5 , a series that has slowly settled into creative stagnation since Far Cry 3 's retooling of the series formula. Jump Force , while not entirely fair to compare with a list of shooters, plays like a fairly straightforward 3D fighting SLG game walkthrough beneath its enticing facade of playing as Shonen Jump's most iconic characters and doesn't do anything radical that hasn't already been seen in the fighting game genre time and time bef

**Apex Legends ** may not be the Titanfall 3 some fans were hoping for from developer Respawn Entertainment but it's the best battle royale game on the market. Respawn and publisher Electronic Arts' surprise release is instead a spinoff of the Titanfall series but barely resembles the mech-heavy, wall-running g

That downer aside, Apex Legends must be applauded for offering such a deep and polished experience from the get-go. Without any demo or beta tests, Apex Legends launched without a hitch and actually functions better than most full-retail triple-A online games. We can't emphasize enough how refreshing it is to have a polished battle royale game, that's also a polished triple-A online title, that's also F

It's an all-around terrible weapon outside of the initial loot scramble. Replace it, avoid it, leave it for some other unfortunate soul to struggle with. You've got bigger fish to fry if you're not in immediate dan

Why was Apex Legends able to rest on its laurels this week while Respawn works on future content? The simplest answer can actually be found in what was likely perceived by EA to be its greatest weakness: it's near-total lack of pre-release marketing. Leaked only a day prior to launch, Apex Legends set the internet abuzz with the immediate promise of an all-new and well-polished experience that players could get their hands on for the tantalizing price of "free." Meanwhile, Crackdown 3 has suffered from a grueling, years-long embarrassment for Xbox Games Studios that began when it was revealed all the way back at E3 2014, greatly reducing the impact of the exclusive's largely overlooked February 15 release d

Apex Legends has a balanced and satisfying spread of weapons, providing more than enough options to keep things fun and varied, but without going overboard and overwhelming us with sheer volume. The gunplay itself is slick, smooth and fast-paced, being more than a little reminiscent of Titanfall ’s enjoyable shooting mechan

Eradicating duplicates is just one of the for-the-player quality of life improvements Apex Legends offers. When starting a match, there's virtually no load time, nor is there a lobby waiting area. Players get into matches almost immediately. During gameplay players can mark and highlight enemies, loot, or any point of interest on the map (a version of the marking system from Rainbow Six Siege mixed with enemy marking from Battlefield ) for very welcome in-game intel sharing/communication. When picking up mods and armor, items are automatically equipped where they should be instantaneously and there's already ammo in the weapon. Every thing a player would want or imagine should happen with fundamental game mechanics, simply does in Apex Legends and it just goes to show how other shooters and battle royale games are missing out on some key featu